Clock on the Mantle II: To the Future!
by Tintastic01
Summary: Riley Chantley, Cecilia Green, and their new friend Dexter (Dex) Samuels, are heading into their senior year at California State High School. Only a few months after their adventure to the past in Belgium, Riley is still trying to cope with leaving Tintin behind in time for this school year. But what happens when she gets a surprise visit from two old friends from the past?
1. chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I'm so excited to finally be bringing you this sequel, and I will do everything I can to finish it, I promise I will no matter what. You WILL have an end to this story. This is a direct continuation of the preview at the end of the original story. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 1: Stupid Schedules And Senior Year

Riley Chantley stared in distain at her newly attained class schedule. She had been shoved into Anatomy for the third year in a row, after countlessly repeating to her guidance counselor that 'she hated anatomy, and she doesn't ever, ever want to be in it'. Unfortunately, according to her guidance counselor, all other science classes were full to bursting.

She inwardly groaned. 'Well, this school year is off to a GREAT start' she thought sarcastically to herself. She was just happy to be a senior. It was the last year she actually had to do anything. After this, she could leave her stupid foster home, and this stupid high school, and finally be free. She could be her own person, an adult. She couldn't go to college (money was a scarcity in her life), and the last thing she wanted was to pay off student loans for the rest of her life, so she planned on just getting a job waitressing or something, working her way up to manager, even owner of the restaurant one day. The only part that truly made her sad was leaving her best friend, Cecilia Green. Celia's family was pretty well off financially, so no doubt she would head off to college and become a nurse or something. She would stay in touch, but she would probably find herself some preppy rich college friends to replace her with. Riley knee good and well how distance affects relationships.

As she looked up from her schedule, she spotted Celia sitting on top of a picnic table with their new friend, Dexter Samuels. Dexter had just moved to their town from Bakersfield in Southern California, which is about a six and a half hour car drive from their town, Redding. Needless to say, they were his only friends. He was a nice boy, with flaming copper red hair (which kind was kind of bittersweet for Riley to look at), but he was whacky too. Not in a bad or obnoxious way, it was a good kind of weird that made you love to hang out with the person.

As she approached them, they turned to greet her, smiling happily and waving her over to them. She smiled a frustrated smile, and waved back half heartedly, heading over to them.

"Hey Riles!" Dex said, a smile gracing his features.

"Hi Riles! What's wrong, you look frustrated." Celia asked.

Riley sighed, dragging her fingers through her medium length platinum blonde hair. She held up her clas schedule for Celia and Dex to take. "My stupid guidance counselor put me in Anatomy this year."

"The one science class you hate," said Celia, "that sucks Riley, I'm sorry." A look of sympathy flashed across her face, returning her attention to the schedule sheet. "Well, the bright side is that you don't have Ms. Prudence for history this year."

"Praise the Lord!" Said Riley, throwing her hands in the air. They all laughed and chuckled.

"Well, it looks like we all have English together!" Dex said excitedly. "It's a good thing too, you guys can show me where the classroom is." He chuckled. Just then, his phone dinged. He took it out and unlocked it. "Oh, looks like my mom's here. Got to go." He said with a melancholy tone. He turned to Celia and went to wave at her, but she went in for a hug. He then awkwardly tired to hug her, but she had seen his wave and retreated from the hug to wave at him. They awkwardly stopped and just decided to high five each other.

'Ok...weird...' thought Riley. He waved at them both before sprinting off. Riley looked back to Celia, a confused look plastered to her face. "What was that?" She asked, a slight smirk ghosting on her mouth.

"Nothing, I don't know...stop pestering me!" Celia said defensively as Riley chuckled to herself. She walked over to sit next to Celia, plopping down next to her on the nice picnic table. "So," Celia asked after a moment, "how are you holding up?"

Riley sighed. It had been a bit since their "adventure", and Riley has been feeling a bit down ever since. "I don't know. It's kind of like, there's something heavy always weighing on my mind. I'm definitely not over him yet, I think I'm just a little shook up about the whole thing in general." She took a moment to think about what she was trying to convey. "What I mean is, it's hard to fall in love with someone, even for a short time, and then have them ripped away from you. Just when your really getting to know them too."

Celia nodded. "Yeah, I totally understand." They sat for a moment as a comfortable silence enveloped them. "You know, you can always look at the history books in he library, and look at his pictures, and read about him. Maybe it'll make you feel closer to him."

"Yeah, I have been, but Ms. Ericsson won't take me to the library anymore, and makes me do more cleaning around her house, so instead I have to walk 3 miles to the bus stop, so I figured it's just not worth it." Ms. Ericsson was her foster mother, and a bad one at that. Not to say that Riley hadn't seen worse, but Ms. Ericsson was still not her favorite. She was just one of those foster parents that "only did this for the check that came in the mail".

"Well, my mom is supposed to pick me up in a minute, so I guess I'll call you later ok?" Celia said, patting her knee before standing up and running off, saying goodbye and waving.

'And then there was one...' Thought Riley, sitting alone on the picnic table. The other kids had slowly dissipated, leaving no one in the court yard but her. She knew Ms. Ericsson would be late, so no use in waiting around in boredom. She took out her headphones and turned on her music, listening calmly as a plane flew overhead. She looked at it fondly, remembering everything. The trip. Marlinspike. The clock. Snowy. The Captain. And a red headed boy who made her feel so special and loved.

Tintin.

It hurt to think about him. How he has already lived his life. He has lived his life, without her in it. His life is over, and hers is just beginning, without him.

She sighed as the heaviness consumed her once again, putting its weight on her shoulders once again. She wished for at least the millionth time that he would be right there, sitting next to her. She wished he could be with her in that moment. She wished to feel his warmth, his touch, his lips on hers, just once more...

...little did she know that her wishes would soon come true...


	2. Chapter 2

After about an hour of waiting around for Ms. Ericsson to show up, Riley decided it was just no use. She got off the picnic table and turned on 'Wanderer' by Dion. She had always been a fan of old music, and older things in general. She suspects that it came from her aunt, seeing as she was around her so much when she was younger. Her aunt loved all things "Rockabilly", so because of that, so did Riley.

Riley put her phone in her pocket as she heard the drum and piano lick in the beginning come through her earbuds. She began walking in the direction of the bus stop, which was luckily close to the school (unluckily, however, it was a three mile walk back to her house from the bus stop in her neighborhood). She used to hate taking the bus, seeing as she was always alone and surrounded by strangers who looked intimidating. Now that she was older, however, she was much more used to it, and had just about lost count of how many times she had taken the bus.

It was less than a minute before the bus rolled into the stop area. Riley reached into her bag for bus fare, counting it to make sure she had enough. As she walked on, she put her money into the box and took her seat towards the back, allowing the beginning of 'Earth Angel' by The Penguins to set her mind adrift as she blankly stared out the window.

XXX

After a nearly 3 mile walk from the stop she got off on, the sign with the words 'Paradise Estates' written in dull neon cams into view. She sighed and took out her earbuds, her senses on high alert and her eyes adjusting to the light. Her neighborhood could barely even be considered a neighborhood at all, seeing as it was just one long road with a bunch of run down houses. It definitely wasn't the safest place to live; it had a high crime rate ranging from car and home break ins to hostages and drug violence.

Luckily for her, it seemed to be a quiet night, no gunshots with no origin, no shouting or yelling, and no cop cars thankfully. She walked up to Ms. Ericsson's driveway, the grass and dirt very noticeable underneath the numerous cracks that covered it. The house itself wasn't much to look at. It was old and run down, with paint peeling off of the door and shingles missing from the roof.

She sighed as she walked up the driveway, noticing that Ms. Ericsson's car was missing. 'Probably out partying with her sleazy friends' Riley thought to herself. She took out her key as she walked up to the door, struggling to move the giant overgrown bush from out of the doorway. She unlocked the door and shoved it with her shoulder, but it didn't budge. It had a tendency to stick to the frame, and proved difficult to open most of the time. She shoved again, and again, and with a final grunt, the door swung open, revealing an empty house.

Riley closed the door and turned on the lights, setting down her backpack and heading towards the kitchen to grab a snack. As she grabbed the handle for the fridge, she noticed a note attached to it by a magnet.

It read:

'I'm out with Stephanie and Mike and won't be back for a while. We are going to Oregon for the week.

Here's the number for the hotel we're staying at (541-638-7476), and don't call unless you're dying.

P.S. Don't die.

-Lita Ericsson

Riley inwardly groaned. She knew this would happen. She always did this and Riley hated it.

On the bright side, however, this meant she had the run of the house for the week, and she didn't have to constantly listen to Ms. Ericsson yell at her.

She settled on a banana, grabbing her bag and heading to her room.

She walked into her room at the back of the narrow hallway and turned on her light, shutting the door behind her and setting her bag on the ground.

Books from the library covered her bed, each one about the young reporter from the 1930's that she held so close to her heart. She laid back on the bed and began to peel her banana, grabbing the book nearest to her and opening it to one of its many bookmarked pages.

On this page was Tintin in his mid thirties, standing next to Captain Haddock, who looked older, but yet somehow just as strong and lively as when Riley had met him. Tintin had longer hair in this picture, his bangs coming to the top of his eyebrows and swooshing to one side. He looked rather dashing, much older looking, yet still just as handsome as when he was seventeen.

Her heart began to ache once again, and she just felt like crying her eyes out. She set her half eaten banana on her dresser (if you could even call it that), and laid back on her pillow, turning the book to a different page. This one was a picture of him when he was much younger, most likely a year or so after Riley had first met him. She propped it up so that she could look at it as she was lying on her pillow, and sighed. She felt a hot tear roll down her cheek...and then another...and another, until they started to come so fast that she couldn't have stopped them even if she wanted to.

She shut her eyes tight as a sob wracked her body, her breaths coming out in shudders. Eventually she succumbed to the sadness, as her mind drifted off and she began to feel sleepy.

XXX

Riley woke up in her bed, sitting up quickly and rubbing her eyes. She turned to her right as the body next to her stirred, sitting up to face her.

"What's wrong my love?" It said, "Another nightmare?"

"Tintin?" She asked. It couldn't be. It couldn't be him, with her, there, together...it just couldn't. She reached out and touched his face, feeling his soft skin with her fingers, tracing lightly over his freckles.

"It's ok my love," He said, grabbing her hands and kissing them. "I'm right here, and I always will be."

She smiled and laughed, going in to kiss him, when she heard a bell go off. She sat back, stunned, both off them wearing a confused look as it came again.

"What is that?" She asked, looking all around. She waited for a response but none came. "Tintin?" But as she turned around, he was gone, no where to be seen. The bell came again, louder. "TINTIN!" The bells came again, louder, and louder, and louder, so loud that they filled up all of the space in the room. They continued until everything stopped, and the room went black.

Riley sat up with a start, tears streaming down her face. 'It was all a stupid dream' she thought as her heart dropped like a stone. She felt like crying again, and was about to lay down when she heard a bell go off, quite like in her dream.

She turned to her dresser and saw that her cell phone was ringing like crazy, Celia's name flashing across the caller ID. Riley sighed and picked it up, squeaking out a small "Hey,".

"Hey, listen, ok so, this is gonna sound really weird and you're not gonna believe me," she sounded very nervous, her voice talking in a quivering, fast manner.

"...Yeah...?" urged Riley. A knock came at the front door. Riley was hesitant to answer it, especially because she wasn't expecting anyone and she was alone.

"Well, I got a strange phone call, and I don't even know if it was, like, real, but it sounded pretty real- he sounded pretty real- u-unless it was a prank, which I'm still not sure if it was or not..." Celia continued on as quick as she could, all of her sentences mushing together into one long one.

"Celia, I need you to calm down ok?" Riley said, trying to make sense of what she was saying. The knock at the door came again, this time a bit louder. Riley got up, and began to walk out of her room and towards the front door very slowly.

"Ok...ok..." she sighed and took deep breaths.

"Now, tell me exactly what happened." Riley said, taking cautious steps towards the door. The knock came again.

Knock knock knock.

"Ok, so he called me and told me he needed to find your house, and I was like 'Woah, is that really you?', and I'll tell you what, I almost passed out right there, but anyway, he was like 'Yes, now tell me where she is.' And I was like 'Ok,' so I told him and then I called you so I could war-"

"Who Celia, who called you?" Riley said, her attention still on the door, her hand grazing the knob.

"Well...they said they were..."

Riley was no longer paying attention to Celia, and began to turn the knob. She slowly began to open the door, her eyes shut tight in fear.

"Can I help you?" She asked with a quivering voice.

"...Riley?" It was a quiet voice, a man. She knew that voice. The voice that haunted her thoughts and dreams. The voice she had longed to hear for so long.

She opened her eyes. There before her, stood Tintin, boy reporter of the 1930's. And then, the world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

"Tin, answer me this," the Captain began, straining to talk and huffing as he and Tintin carried Riley's limp body to the nearest couch. "Why is it, that every girl you meet in the future passes out when they see you?"

"Oh shut it!" Said Tintin, forcing his voice out in a squeak. They set her down on the old unkept couch and sighed of relief, catching their breath. "Get some ice from the freezer and put it in a rag or something." Tintin said in huffs. The Captain ran off to do so.

Tintin sat down on the couch next to her, wiping a strand of hair from her face. He sighed and smiled. 'Oh Riley, you have no idea how happy I am to see you.' He thought. Just then, the Captain came back in with the ice, and handed it to Tintin. He lightly dabbed it on her forehead, hoping she would wake up soon.

No sooner than ten minutes later, Riley's eyes fluttered open in a confused daze. She realized that she was on the couch in the living room, but unsure of how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was opening the door.

She felt something cool come to her forehead, but couldn't see what it was from her head spinning so much. "Ugh..." she groaned.

"Shh, it's ok..." she heard a voice say. She remembered hearing it before she blacked out. "Just lean into the ice, there you go." It said. She tried to focus on the face towering over her, but her vision was still blurry. She could make out a shock of red hair on their head. That's when it all came back.

Her vision cleared and she sat up, coming face to face with the only boy she had ever truly loved. "Tintin?" She said in shock.

"Hi." He said sheepishly, matching her expression.

She smiled widely, laughing a bit as he did the same. Her arms enveloped him in a bear hug, pulling him close to her and squeezing as tight as she could, as if he were a balloon and might fly away from her. He laughed even harder, hugging her back just as tight.

"Wait," she stopped hugging him, pulling back and looking at him with a stern look. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well...that's th-that's a l-long sto-OUCH!" Riley smacked her hand to the side of his head.

"I thought we agreed, you were going to stay in the past because you had so much to accomplish and I couldn't take you away from your destiny and...and I just can't believe you're here..." she said, dropping her stern demeanor and bringing her forehead to touch his.

He chuckled, closing his eyes and basking in her presence. He put his hands to her face, cupping her cheeks. They stayed this way until they heard a soft 'ehem' come from the Captain. Awkwardly they split apart, looking away from each other.

"Everything aside, I would like to know: how the hell did you get here?" Riley said, her face morphing into one of confusion.

"Well, that's quite the long story." Tintin said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What do you think, I have a soirée to go to or something?" Said Riley.

Tintin chuckled, "Ok, ok. We pressed the button on the clock, and all of a sudden, we were hurled through nothingness and landed in my room; only in the future. So we went to go downstairs, but some lady threw open the door. We tried to explain to her what had happened, but she just, passed out. We got tired of waiting for her to wake up, so we went downstairs and found the visitors log behind the huge desk that was in the foyer, and we saw the name of the school that you came with." He explained everything with such passion and excitement in his expression, Riley couldn't help but smile. She still couldn't believe he was sitting here next to her. It was like a miracle, or a dream. She just hoped she wouldn't wake up like last time.

"Well after that we did some research, and found out where your school was, and so we snuck on a boat to get to America, and got to this town by hitchhiking. Then when we got here, we looked in a phone book and saw Celia's last name, and that ended up being her "home telephone" as it were, so her mother picked up. And then she directed us to what she called "Celia's cell", and then we called that and Celia picked up. And then she told us where your house was, and so we hitchhiked here and...and here we are." He said this last part while grabbing her hand and holding it in his, smiling shyly at her.

"Well, I'm happy you are, both of you," Riley smiled at them, "but you can't stay here. If my foster mother found out about this she would kill me."

"Hm...this is a predicament..." Said Tintin, putting his finger on his chin thoughtfully.

Riley thought for a moment before she came up with something. "Hold on, I have an idea." She said, grabbing her cell phone and walking to the other room.

XXX

"So, run this by me one more time." Celia said, sitting next to Riley on her couch. Tintin and the Captain were sitting in the kitchen/dining room, not far enough away for their conversation to have total privacy, but far enough to give them the space they needed to work everything out.

"Ok, I need you to help me out. I need to put them up somewhere, and I don't have the money to do it, and I figured that...y'know...you might just have enough lying around somewhere?" Riley said.

"Why can't they just stay here with you?" Celia asked.

"Celia, I told you, Ms. Ericsson would kill me if she found out anyone was staying at the house, let alone two guys." She replied.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Celia said, putting her chin in her hands, her elbows resting on her knees. "Well...I may have enough in my old piggy bank." Said Celia.

Riley looked at her with a puzzled face. "Jeez Celia, how much is in your piggy bank?"

"Hey, I save up my money ok?" She said with a giggle. "Anyways, it'll have to be somewhere cheap, because even though I have a bit, it's not enough for the Beverly Hills hotel or anything." She said, sighing and rubbing her hands over her face.

"I agree. There's a motel a few streets down, I think it's called the Dime Deal Discount Inn." Riley said.

"Ok, I guess that'll do." Celia said, standing up with Riley to go and get the guys, who were having a jubilant conversation in the "dining room".

"So?" Tintin asked.

"C'mon boys, we're gonna go find you a place to stay." Riley said, waving them towards the front door.

XXX

After a short walk, they had arrived at the Inn. It was very run down and shabby looking from the outside, and had an inside that matched. Celia gave the man at the front desk enough money for a weeks stay (which was all she was allowed to give because of the Inn's policy), and they were given the room key.

The room was very dingy, the wallpaper faded and the lights emitting either an old murky yellow-orange, or a bright white like the lights found in hospitals (no happy medium). It had two queen beds in it, both looking lopsided and lumpy. The room itself remakes of mold and it felt humid, and you could smell the old carpeting from the door.

"I suppose this will do..." Said Tintin, scrunching his nose up to avoid having the smell permeate his nostrils.

Riley sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "We'll be back tomorrow morning to figure everything out, ok?" She said, turning her gaze to Tintin.

He nodded and smiled a tired smile at her. She leaned in and gave him a hug, which he gladly returned, nuzzling his head into the crook of her shoulder. Riley gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek as they parted, and muttered out a quick goodbye to both Tintin and the Captain. Celia waved to them, closing the door behind her and Riley.

Tintin touched the spot where Riley had kissed his cheek, still lingering there like a ghost. He didn't know what would happen next, but whatever happened, he was certainly glad to have her back in his life again.

"Alright lad," came the Captain booming voice, "I call the bed farthest away from the rat hole."


	4. Chapter 4: Boxers and Brand New Clothes

BLEEP! BLEEP! BLEEP! The alarm sounded in Riley's ear. In her half-sleeping state, she rolled over and blindly hit her hand over the top of it, making it stop immediately. She looked at the time; on the alarm clock it read 5:30.

'Perfect! I have enough time to get ready and catch the early bus to the motel before school starts.' She thought to herself. Hurriedly, but quietly, she got out of bed and went to her closet. She picked out a grey shirt with a green army style jacket, and put on a pair of blue jeans with low tan combat boots.

She quickly walked into the bathroom and flipped on the light. She looked at herself in the mirror and scowled. 'Ewe...' she thought to herself. Her hair made her look a mess, with bits of it going all over the place. She took out her comb and quickly raked it through her platinum blond hair, making sure to get out all of the knots. After she was done she took a quick glance at herself again. 'Much better.'

After brushing her teeth, she went back into her room to look for something for Tintin to wear (he couldn't go traipsing around in his 30's clothes now could he). She found an old pair of jeans that were hand-me-downs from her cousin Brandon, seeing as she didn't have the money to buy a ton of clothes anyway. She grabbed those, along with a loose men's t-shirt that she usually slept in because of its roominess. She put these things in the back pocket of the bag, and she quietly slipped out the front door, locking it behind her.

As she walked down the street towards the bus stop, she noticed that it was still dark outside. She felt a bit uneasy, because she always hated the darkness, but at the same time she felt tranquil, because of the stillness the early morning held.

After a short bus ride to the motel, she quickly and cautiously walked up to the door of the room they had purchased the night before. She gave a short knock as not to disturb the other occupants, and waited patiently for an answer.

After a moment, she heard the locks coming undone on the other side of the door. The door opened to reveal a bedraggled and exhausted looking Tintin, his orange hair sticking this way and that. She couldn't help but let out a little chuckle before covering her mouth to hide it.

"Ha ha, very funny girly." He said half-heartedly, running his fingers through his hair and opening the door wider to let her in. She walked through and made sure to shut and lock the door behind her. "Why am I up this early then?" He asked, causing Riley to turn her attention to him. She nearly gasped when she saw him. Before she came in, she only saw his top half, which showed that he was wearing a white t-shirt. But the only bottoms he was wearing were a pair of boxers. She blushed a deep red and averted her gaze quickly before she looked strange, just sitting there staring at him.

"Uh...y-you have to get ready for school." She said, still not meeting his gaze. "Here," she handed him the clothes from her bag, along with the baseball cap, "this way you'll seem like you're from this century, and more importantly, to keep you from getting recognized."

"Oh alright." He said, grabbing the bundle of clothes and holding it to his chest, feeling a bit of second hand embarrassment from the awkward situation he had caused. He blushed a bit as the silence continued, before he cleared his throat, "Ehem, well I believe I'll go change then." He said quietly, hurriedly heading to the bathroom.

Once the bathroom door shut, Riley let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in. She heard a light chuckle come from the direction of the occupied bed.

The Captain sat up and continued laughing, a bit harder now. "Oh lass," He said after pulling himself together a bit, "you two sure are funny aren't you?"

"Oh, shove a cork in it!" Snapped Riley.

"Relax lass, he's probably never even seen himself in his underwear before, let alone let a girl see him."

"I know that." She said agitatedly.

"Don't worry, he'll get comfortable" he said, mumbling something along the lines of "depending on which way this situation goes I guess"

Just then, the door to the bathroom unlocked and opened, revealing Tintin in the new clothes Riley gave him.

The olive green t-shirt hugged his frame, but wasn't too tight on him, and accented his muscles. The jeans fit just right, and we're slim on his leg. He kept his shoes, because nowadays they could be considered 'retro' so there was really no point in switching them out. Once he put the baseball cap on, he looked like a 21st century teenage boy.

Riley's lips curved upward a bit. She had to admit, it was an attractive look. A small "Wow." was all she could muster.

"Thanks Riles." Tintin said, a small blush spreading to his ears as he smiled back at her sweetly.

After a moment, Riley spoke up. "Well, we need to get going if we're gonna catch the bus." She said.

"Alrighty then." Said Tintin, beginning to follow her as she turned to walk out the door. "Oh, and Captain?" He said, turning to him.

"Yes boy-o?" The Captain said as he stretched, yawning.

"Don't even think about touching the mini-bar."


	5. 5: Debilitating Fear and Dumb Schedules

Tintin's whole body was tense. Riley could sense it as they stood outside of her high school. She turned to look at him, but he was staring in worry at the giant front entrance to the school.

She felt bad for him. She had read that he had had little schooling on account of working from a young age, and she could see how throwing him into a situation with other children his age (especially children from this era, and especially children as vicious as high school kids) could be harrowing for him.

She touched his arm lightly, causing him to sharply inhale. She rubbed her thumb lightly on his arm, trying to calm him down a bit, but to little avail, it seemed. He let out a breath he had been unconsciously holding, and his eyes darted to hers for a moment before returning to the front entrance.

"Baby steps." Riley said, barely audible. Tintin nodded slowly and gulped. She grabbed his arm, and they began walking cautiously through the courtyard full of teens sitting at picnic tables and littering the grassy areas.

"I suppose this feels almost like when you walk into a haunted house." Said Tintin breathily.

"Why's that?" Riley questioned with amusement in her voice.

"Well, you know how you can sort of feel an energy in a haunted house that fills you up? That's what this feels like. A ton of energy filled with hormones and body odor."

Riley laughed. "Y'know, you can just call that B.O."

"Right," Tintin gave a small chuckle, "newer terms."

They continued to walk through the courtyard and entered the school through the front glass doors. The hallways were rowdy and loud, so loud that Tintin cringed at the amount of noise that bombarded his ears. "Ugh, what happened to civilized conversation?" He asked over the roar.

"Oh, that was abandoned by teens years ago." Said Riley.

Tintin shrugged and they continued on. They turned down a different hallway that was less noisy than the first hallway, but still quite busy with student activity.

Riley spotted Celia, dressed in a navy blue and white crosshatch jumpsuit, with a white turtleneck underneath. She wore white high top shoes, a navy blue cardigan, and a black and silver knit berete, and had her hair rolled back into a low pony tail. She was standing at her locker, a few books in her arms. She looked at herself in her locker mirror for a moment, examining her makeup, and then promptly slammed the locker door shut.

"Hey Ceels!" Riley called, walking faster with Tintin in tow.

Celia's face lit up when she saw her. "Hey Riles!" She exclaimed as she made her way quickly to Riley.

They came together in a tight hug, laughing with each other. Celia noticed Tintin as they broke apart from their embrace. "Hey pal! How are you holding up?" She asked Tintin.

"I'm a bit nervous and a little confused, but aside from that I'm alright I suppose." He said. Riley could tell that he was putting up a front, but she didn't say anything.

"Well alright! That's good! Better than I did on my first day of high school, that's for sure." She chuckled, patting him on the arm.

"Hey Ceels, what's your first period?"

"Oh, I have Calc. What about you?" Celia inquired in response.

"Darn, I have English 4 first." Riley pouted. They continued to compare class periods until noticing that they didn't share a single class period together, which made them both scoff in disapproval.

"Well that's dumb" said Celia, lowering her voice as she dragged out 'dumb'.

"Yeah, totally." Riley replied, morphing her face into a scowl of disapproval. "Well Tin, why don't you come with me, and we can catch up with Celia at lunch?" She said, looking between the two of them.

"Oh...ok. So they...serve food here?" He asked puzzled.

"Well, yeah Tin, but it's not like it's a soup kitchen or something. It's common in modern times." She explained.

"Ah. Ok, yes. Lunch it is then." He said with a smile.

Riley laughed and rolled her eyes at his dorky-ness. She said her goodbyes to Celia and grabbed his hand to guide him in the direction of her English 4 class.


	6. Chapter 6: Martin and the Mean Girl

Riley walked into the dusky classroom, its gray carpets and musty khaki colored walls making it look dim and soft. Tintin walked in behind her, trying his best to take in all of the room, and the people in it. Worn out laminated posters lines the walls, each with different faces or paintings and long paragraphs describing the life and works of some author or other. The desks were small and creaky, and you could tell that this classroom was one of the hand-me-down classrooms; one of the ones that never got anything new from school funding.

She turned around and noticed Tintin's aloof demeanor and grabbed his hand, leading him to a desk in the middle of the classroom so he wouldn't be stared at or made fun of. She took the desk next to him and sighed, setting her bag down with a 'thump' on the dirt stained and dusty carpet. She rested her head on her hand, waiting for the class to settle and begin, when her thoughts were broken by Tintin's soft and timid voice.

"Um...do you think I should have one of those? Y'know...a knapsack with supplies and things?" He asked in a hushed voice.

Riley made a scrunched up face, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular right past Tintin's head. "Uhhhh...I think you'll be fine. I mean, half of these kids don't have bags anyways, and either way, the worst that's gonna happen is you get yelled at a little bit. Just...roll with the punches." She tried her best to reassure him, giving him a sympathetic smile. "Oh, and call it a backpack. Knapsack is so old that most people don't even know it's a word nowadays."

"Huh...imagine that." Tintin replied. He made a face, but then shrugged and turned his attention back to all of the stimulation around him.

Riley went to rest her head on her hand again, but jumped when she sensed the 'thud' of a backpack being set down next to her. She looked over to see a shock of red hair (much like Tintin's) in the seat next to her.

"Hiya Riles!" Said Dex excitedly. He was a little more dressed up than normal, she noticed, and had gel in his hair.

She beamed back at him, his excitement proving infectious. "Hey there Dex! How's your first day?"

"Well, it's only first period, but a really cool doughnut shop was open this morning, and I got to stop in there on my way to school, so, so far so good I'd say!" He beamed.

"Nice." She said, chuckling a bit unenthusiastically. A moment passed by before she realized that she was blatantly disregarding the unexpected anomaly in her life, and gestured to Tintin. "Uh Dex, this is Ti-I meeaan, ummm, Martin. Martin...umm...Martin Remi." She said quickly, changing Tintin's name so as to disguise him further. "He's an exchange student. From Belgium. He's an exchange student from Belgium." It was all very unconvincing, but it was just like she told Tintin; roll with the punches.

"Oh, uh, hi Martin! I'm Dex." He said, extending his hand across Riley's desk to shake Tintin's.

"Hello, I'm Martin." Said Tintin, shaking Dex's hand and shooting a look in Riley's direction, causing her to shoot one right back at him.

It was right then that Riley realized how similar they really looked. Sure, Dex had different colored eyes, and slightly longer hair, and his face was a bit more square than Tintin's, but not by much. He was basically Tintin with different eyes and hair. They seemed to notice it too. Dex tilted his head to one side, and Tintin scrunched up his eyebrows. After a moment, Dex spoke. "Is this just me or is this weird. I mean, like, freaky weird. Like...looking in the mirror weird." He chuckled and looked between Riley and Tintin, who also chuckled a bit.

A few moments later the teacher, Mr. Tort, came waddling in through the door. "GOOD MORNING!!!" He boomed cheerfully from the front of the class, causing the few remaining standing students to find their seats.

"I'm Mr. Tort," he said after all of the sound and movement settled, "and I'm going to be your English 4 teacher this year!"

Mr. Tort was a plump, bald, jolly man. He was wearing a green polo shirt, which barely covered his muffin top belly, and a pair of nice, albeit worn out pair of khaki pants. He set his briefcase down on the desk and turned to write something on the board.

While he did, Dex turned and leaned over to whisper to Riley. "Do you think we'll see Celia at lunch."

Riley chuckled. "Yeah, I think so." She figured that Dex might have a thing for Celia, and she knew Celia had a thing for him. If anyone knew how to read her, it was her best friend Riley.

XXX

Lunch came soon enough, and fortunately Dex had the same class as Riley (and subsequently, Tintin) before lunch. With trays full, the three of them made their way through the crowded cafeteria to Riley and Celia's usual table towards the corner in the back. As usual, Celia sat at the corner, her lunch tray already half eaten and her phone in her hand (texting Riley to ask where she was, no doubt).

"Hey Ceels!" Said Dex excitedly, sitting next to her.

"Hey Dex!!!" She gasped and sat up. In Riley's opinion, it was a bit of an overreaction, but it didn't matter. Celia was happy.

"Okay Ceels. I see how it is. Completely abandon your best and closest and oldest friend in the whole wide world for a boy, that's fine, no biggy." Riley said sarcastically, a sly smile gracing her lips.

"Sorry, Riley." Celia half chuckled, blushing like a rose on a rose bush. "I just...really wanted to know how Dex's first day is going." Riley knew it was a lie, but ignored it. She enjoyed the comedic affect it had on the situation.

Celia cleared her throat and ignored Riley's sly smile. "So, how is your first day going, Dex?"

"Oh, super well! This cool doughnut shop was open this morning, and I got to stop in it on the wa-"

"Oh lord, I've heard this story already. Can't you just say it was good." Riley cut him off in an exasperated tone.

Celia stared at her in comedic shock. "Well! Who put salt in your coffee this morning!" She said with a breathy laugh.

"Sorry, today has been...strange to say the least." Riley noticed that Tintin had been quiet for a few moments. "Hey, Tin, what do you-". She cut herself off when she noticed that Tintin was staring in the opposite direction. 'What is he looking at?' She thought, straining to find the focus of his gaze. Her eyes came to Yvonne Parker, and narrowed slightly. She was smirking, and winked in Tintin's direction, holding her hand up to give him a little finger wave. Riley turned back to Tintin's face to see his response. He smiled back at Yvonne, even though his face was flushed and his ears were pink. He reciprocated the wave, and then turned his attention back to his tray, fiddling around with his food again.

Riley hated Yvonne. Well, she didn't hate anyone, but the way Yvonne made her feel was the closest thing she could feel to hatred. She had perfect straight brown hair, a perfect glowing olive complexion, brown eyes that made any guy melt, and perfect clothes. Not to mention she was rich, which allowed her to do anything she wanted. She could be with any boy she wanted, have any friends she wanted, and be as mean as she wanted without any repercussions whatsoever. And boy, did she take advantage of that. That's why Riley disliked her. Everything about her reeked life's unfair. Riley knew that life was unfair, she didn't want someone else reminding her.

And she certainly didn't need Yvonne taking away the one thing in her life that was fair.

AN:

Hey everyone!!! I'm back, and so is this story! I know I kept you waiting for a long time, but so much has happened, and I've grown so much since my last update. Long story short, I'm glad to be back to writing this, because I want it to have its justice.

As always, leave a vote or a comment. I love reading your comments, so let me know what's up!

Until next time (which won't be far away this time!)


	7. Chapter 7: Right Friends and Big Fights

Warning: just a few minor curse words. Nothing big.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. "Martin" turned out to be a big hit with most of the kids at school, seeing as exchange students were a rare occurrence. Even the football players were talking to him, trying to get him to consider joining varsity (and they didn't let just anyone try out).

Celia knew all of this, of course, from merely eavesdropping. She would never be allowed into their elite conversations, if that's what you could call them. By 6th period, it began to annoy her. In fact, she found herself being very curt with Tintin, even when he was just being nice or asking a question. She knew it wasn't fair to him, but she didn't care at the moment. She was frustrated.

The big kicker, however, came during 7th period, the last period of the day. They had just chosen a spot in the back row when Yvonne and her entourage of girls walked into the room.

Riley groaned when she saw them. She was sure that Yvonne must have had her parents talk the guidance counselor into letting her little minions be in all of her classes, which was probably why the only available science class was stupid anatomy.

Those bitches.

She rolled her eyes, but then blinked. She noticed that they were staring and pointing in her direction. 'Oh, this oughta be good.' She thought to herself. Before she knew what was happening, Yvonne began sauntering in their direction. The thing that seemed strange to Riley was that if Yvonne had come to attack her, her walk would have been much more ferocious, like a predator about to kill its prey. This was more like a mating call.

It was revealed as she got closer to them that her goal was not Riley, but rather Tintin. He sat contentedly looking forward until she leaned on his desk with her hands.

"So, I hear your name is Martin?" Her voice was like sparkly butter. Riley hated it.

"Oh, uhh, yes. Yes it is." He stuck out his hand politely for her to shake.

She looked at it curiously for a moment, then awkwardly shook it, grabbing only his fingers. "Well, I just wanted to personally welcome you to the school, Martin. My name is Yvonne. Yvonne Parker." She smiled a dazzlingly white, straight toothed smile at him, and he smirked back.

Riley didn't know how much more she could take before she audibly gagged.

"Thank you very much." He said through his half smirk.

"Y'know, you could come up and sit with my friends and I, we would love to have you. Would you like me to introduce you to them?" She said, sweetness dripping like honey in her voice.

"Oh, sure, Riley you don't mind do y-"

"Oh, I'm sure she doesn't." Yvonne cut him off, grabbing his hand and gently dragging him to the front of the room.

Riley was shocked. And pissed. She was shocked and pissed. She was shissed. Her eyes widened as she watched it all play out in front of her. She had come over here and dragged him away as if she didn't even exist. '...What the hell just happened?' She thought through a buzzing brain.

As she looked in their direction, Tintin turned around and shrugged at her, mouthing a 'sorry' as he did. She didn't respond. She merely rolled her eyes and chuckled in disbelief, looking in another direction.

XXX

The bus ride back to the hotel that evening was deathly quiet. Sure there was a quiet rumble of murmurs all throughout the bus, but between Riley and Tintin, you could hear a pin drop.

She didn't even look at him, in fact. She leaned her forehead on the window of the bus and only looked out. The minute they had found their seats, she shoved her earbuds in and turned her rock and roll up to the highest volume.

Needless to say, there was quite a bit of tension between them.

When Riley felt a light tap on her arm, she turned a glare towards Tintin, jerking an earbud from her ear and barking out a vicious "What?".

He looked a bit taken aback, but then composed himself enough to say "We're at the stop." Riley huffed and grabbed her bag, following after Tintin off of the bus.

Once they were safely off the bus, they began walking in the direction of the motel, which was luckily only a few feet away. Riley returned her earbud to her ear and pressed play on the cord, but nothing came out. She scowled and looked at the black screen of her phone. Dead.

"Dammit!" She growled shoving her phone and earbuds in her pocket in a tangled heap. She felt Tintin's eyes bore into her in disbelief, which made her all the more angry. "What is it? What do you want?" She said pointedly.

He stopped walking and just stared after her with furrowed eyebrows. She turned and shrugged her arms in exasperation.

"I'm surprised at you Riley. I didn't know you could be like this." He said shaking his head.

"Be like what?"

"Dear God, if you can't see it I don't know who can make you." He pushed past her and began briskly walking towards the building.

"What the hell are you talking about. And don't push me!" She said, angrily shoving him.

This made him stop and glare at her, an expression that dared her to do it again. "Really?" He said, then turned forward and walked quickly again.

They walked like this around the outside of the building and up the stairs, Tintin barreling forward with Riley chasing angrily after him, stomping like a horse. "Yes, really! I should be asking you the same thing you flirtatious ass."

"Ooo, nice Riley." He said without even looking back at her.

"No really! You deserve it! I just can't believe you would come here and do that! You must know how that makes me feel, right? I mean Jesus!" She called after him in the hallway. He didn't respond, but merely kept walking, getting closer to his door with every stride. "Hey!" She yelled, trying to get him to look, but in vain as he focused his attention on the lock of the door. With rage blinding her rationality, she strode over to him quickly and gave him a swift smack in the arm.

"Woah!" He said, flinching. She did it a few more times as he kept saying "Stop! Riley! Cut it out!"

"You jackass! I suffered. A year. A whole ass year for you! I cried every night for you! And finally I get you back and this is what I get?" Tears began to fill her eyes and spill out one by one. All Tintin could do was stare on in shock.

She wiped her eyes furiously and huffed, turning to leave until she heard him yell out after her.

"You think you're the only one who suffered?! Huh?! I worked so hard for a year since you left! Every night I would sob over the fact that you weren't in my arms, and pray to God that he would bring you back to me. I worked my arse off to get back to you and this is what I get?!" His face had begun to turn red, almost as if his skin were boiling.

She had never seen him yell like this. He raised his voice at her once, but that was loving. This, this was...something else entirely.

A door opening brought them out of the trance of outrage that had been casted on them. "What the barnacles is going on out here?" Came the Captain's gruff voice. Neither of them could face him, they were too embarrassed that he had overheard them. "Was school that bad?"

"Oh shut up!" Said Riley, turning around to walk off.

"Oh, real nice Riley. That's real nice. Y'know, sometimes you can decide not to be a dick to someone who's being nice to you!" Tintin yelled.

"Oh that's rich! Coming from the rich girl's lap dog!" She retorted angrily, whirling around to face him.

"Well maybe she was right! Y'know, she said to me today, 'Martin, you should stick with us. If you don't you might just get stuck with the wrong sorts of people.' I'm starting to think she was referring to you!"

Riley said nothing. That one had cut her, deep. She stood frozen, her whole body numb. Finally, in a very small voice, she said "Then why don't you take her advice, Martin?"

With that she turned and walked away.

Tintin and the Captain stared after her. After a moment, the Captain broke the silence, "Tin, I think the future is changing you. I've never heard you curse in my life."

"Well, she just made me...made me very angry." He said in a quiet voice.

The Captain put his hands on his shoulders and led him inside. "Don't want anyone lookin' on now, do we. That's it, there we go." He said as he shut the door behind them.

Tintin had a feeling Riley wouldn't be walking with him to the bus station the next morning.


End file.
